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October 27, 2006 Vol. 77,
no. 11F
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| HELLO,
MY NAME IS: Students introduce themselves to alumni
at a recent speed networking workshop.
RACHEL SHAFER PHOTO
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The art of “meet and greet”
Seniors practice their conversation skills at speed networking workshop
On a recent Wednesday evening in Bechtel Engineering
Center, pairs of people sat across from one another, urgently talking.
No one paused, and the room filled with the noise of 13 simultaneous
conversations. People laughed, gestured and leaned in with intensity.
Suddenly, tweet! “Time’s up! Students move to your left!” the
moderator announced, blowing her whistle. Half the group stood, collected
a business card and moved to the next seat.
This was speed networking, a new workshop put on by the College’s
Alumni Relations team and co-sponsored by the Center
for Entrepreneurship and Technology. The goal, say organizers, is to help engineering students
practice networking so they feel comfortable introducing themselves
to strangers, a skill useful in everything from job interviews to social
mingling at a company function. And, although there was pressure to
have a meaningful conversation in the allotted three minutes and 30
seconds, there were no scary consequences if it didn’t go perfectly.
That’s because the strangers in the room weren’t recruiters
or interviewers, but engineering alumni who were there to help students
by getting to know them.
Cynthia Dai (B.S.’88 EECS), who runs her own consulting business,
Dainamic Consulting Inc., started the evening off by speaking about
the importance of networking. “I’ve been an independent
consultant for 15 years and I live or die by how well I network,” she
said. “People do business with people whom they know and like.
Networking is just an extension of what you do everyday such as meeting
friends, saying ‘hi’ to a classmate or going to a party.”
Dai spoke of how, after completing her MBA at Stanford, she started
her business by spending a month having lunch with everyone she knew.
Through these connections, she got her first client, Motorola. “The
key thing,” she advised, “is to be aware. Look at each
new person as an opportunity.”
As the event got under way, students and alumni took turns asking each
other questions. Craig Brown (B.S.’81 CEE), a senior adviser
in health, environment and safety at Chevron, asked ME senior Evan
Chang-Siu about his future plans and, in the process, complimented
him on the design of his business cards. The senior, it turns out,
is contemplating a career in design.
On the next rotation, EECS senior Yuntao Zhou, in talking about his
future plans, told Brown, “I want to do something that’s
not technical. I really don’t want to write code. I’m more
interested in project management and getting into other aspects, like
marketing.” As the whistle blew, Brown referred Zhou to the Project
Management Institute’s website.
After it was over, the group moved to a reception for informal networking. “It
was fun,” concluded ChemE senior David Law. “It pushed
us to meet new people.”
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I learned quite a bit about presenting myself to someone,” added
EECS senior Rory Martin. “It was very helpful.”
If you’re interested in attending a future speed networking
workshop, email bears@berkeley.edu.
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